The bottom line is clear: Our vital interests in Afghanistan are limited and military victory is not the key to achieving them. On the contrary, waging a lengthy counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan may well do more to aid Taliban recruiting than to dismantle the group, help spread conflict further into Pakistan, unify radical groups that might otherwise be quarreling amongst themselves, threaten the long-term health of the U.S. economy, and prevent the U.S. government from turning its full attention to other pressing problems. -- Afghanistan Study Group

Thursday, February 23, 2012

NATO is reporting the deaths of two ISAF soldiers from a small arms/gunfire attack by an ANA soldier in an undisclosed location in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, February 23rd. This is an update from an earlier ISAF release.

More than 50 killed in wave of bombings across Iraq -- The majority of attacks, which were carried out with car bombs and small arms, appeared to target security forces in the capital and other cities, authorities said. At least 52 people were killed and more than 220 people were wounded, according to death tolls provided by local security officials.

Reported security incidents
#1: American forces have killed an Afghan soldier amid the intensifying nationwide protests in Afghanistan against the desecration of the Holy Qur’an by US-led forces, Press TV reports. The Afghan soldier was shot dead by American troops in Laghman province on Thursday.

#2: At least 15 militants were killed and several injured when airforce jets bombed suspected hideouts of miscreants in upper Orakzai agency on Thursday. Official sources said that the aircraft bombed the hideouts of militants in various areas of Upper Orakzai Agency including Bermela, Khadizai, Mamozai, Samabazar and adjoining areas destroying four hideouts of the militants. They said that jets were sent to bomb hideouts of the militants after intelligence reports that militants from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) led by TTP chief Hakimullah Mehsud, were hiding in the mountainous region bordering Afghanistan.

#3: A car bomb ripped through a Pakistani bus station on Thursday, killing 12 people, including two children on the outskirts of the north-western city of Peshawar, officials said. The attack happened on the road towards the garrison city of Kohat near the lawless tribal belt, a stronghold of Taleban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants blamed for violence plaguing both Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan.

#4: According to local authorities in eastern Afghanistan, unknown armed militants beheaded an Afghan journalist in eastern Paktika province. The officials further added, the Afghan journalist working in a local Radio station was beheaded by unknown gunmen in Orgon district of eastern Paktika province. Provincial Security Chief for eastern Paktika province Gen. Dawlat Khan Zadran confirming the report said, the dead body of the Afghan journalist was found this morning.

The talk of the day among Ray Stoesser and other rice farmers is Iraq’s decision not to buy U.S. rice, a stinging move that adds to a stressful year punctuated by everything from drought to unusual heat.

Stoesser and other farmers know Iraqis struggled during the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation. They know most countries — and people — buy based on price.

But at the moment, with production costs rising, export markets shrinking and rice prices dropping, it’s difficult to be rational and suppress emotions so intimately intertwined with their land and livelihood.

“That’s just not right,” the 63-year-old Stoesser fumed. “If we’ve got some rice to sell, they ought to pay a premium for it just because this is the country that freed them.”